The Legend of Aang Book One: Water
by The Quenchiest
Summary: A novelization of Book: One: Water. I will try to release one chapter a week. One chapter one episode, although I might do some fill-in-the blanks between episodes.
1. The Boy in the Iceberg

Water.

Earth.

Fire.

Air.

In the old days, the Avatar kept peace between the Water Tribes, Earth Kingdom, Fire Nation, and Air Nomads. But everything changed when the Fire Nation attacked.

Only the Avatar mastered all four elements. Only he could stop the ruthless firebenders. But when the world needed him most, he vanished.

A hundred years passed and the Fire Nation was nearing victory in the war. More families were broken apart as duty calls, and as war killed.

Some people believed that the Avatar was never reborn into the Air Nomads and that the cycle was broken. Some still clung to hope. They waited for the Avatar to return.

* * *

A harsh artic sun glared down at the Water Tribe siblings idling along the ocean, sitting inside the canoe. They sat in silence, as so far, their hunting trip had not been very sucessful. Then, a small, roundish fish darted under the boat.

"It's not getting away from me this time. Watch and learn, Katara. This is how you catch a fish." The boy spoke in a slightly condescending tone.

Katara leaned over the edge of the canoe as the fish darted under the canoe once more. She took her glove off apprehensively, and slowly raised her hand, brow knit in concentration. Suddenly, a small globe of water burst out of the ocean. A fish bobbled around inside it. The girl raised her arm over her head, and the globe of water followed until it was hovering just above the boy's spear.

"Sokka, look!" the waterbender cried in excitement.

"Shhh. Katara, you're gonna scare it away." Sokka, whispered. "Mmmm... I can already smell it cookin'!"  
Katara fumbled slightly with the globe of water. "But Sokka! I caught one!"

Katara struggled with the blob of water and it floated closer to Sokka, who raised his spear to skewer another fish. When he cocked his arm back, his spear burst the bubble of water. The fish fell back into the sea. Sokka was sopping wet.

"Ugh! Why is it that every time you play with magic water I get soaked?"

"It's not magic. It's waterbending, and it's-"

"Yeah, yeah, an ancient art unique to our culture, blah blah blah. Look, I'm just saying that if I had weird powers, I'd keep my weirdness to myself." Sokka drawled.

"You're calling me weird?" Katara began to smirk. "I'm not the one who makes muscles at myself every time I see my reflection in the water."

Sokka frowned, and stopped flexing his muscles immediately. Suddenly, the canoe made bumped with a large sheet of ice. When the siblings glanced ahead, they saw a whole maze of the stuff.

Katara and Sokka screamed as Sokka tried to maneuver the canoe safely through the ice.

"Watch out! Go left! Go left!" Katara screamed.

Sokka steered around more ice chunks, but then three more came hurtling for the canoe. He and Katara jumped onto one of the pieces of ice just as the canoe was crushed.  
"You call that left?" said Katara, sarcastically.

"You don't like my steering. Well, maybe you should have _waterbended_ us out of the ice."

"So it's my fault?"

"I knew I should have left you home. Leave it to a girl to screw things up." Sokka raised his voice.

Katara was now seething. "You are the most sexist, immature, nut brained…" As Katara shook her finger at Sokka, the towering iceberg behind her began to crack.

"Ugh, I'm embarrassed to be related to you! Ever since Mom died I've been doing all the work around camp while you've been off playing soldier!" now Katara was yelling.

"Uh… Katara?" Sokka glanced at the cracking iceberg.

"I even wash all the clothes! Have you ever smelled your dirty socks? Let me tell you, NOT PLEASANT!"

"Katara! Settle down!" Sokka could now hear the iceberg crack as well as see it.

"No, that's it. I'm done helping you. From now on, you're on your own!" Katara threw her hands down to her sides. The iceberg behind her cracked and crashed into the water, mirroring her motions.

"Okay, you've gone from weird to freakish, Katara." Sokka tried to mask his awe with sarcasm.

"You mean I did that?" Katara whispered.

"Yup. Congratulations."

The Water Tribe siblings both were leaning over the edge of the iceberg just as the water just in front of them began to glow an incandescent blue. Sokka and Katara scrambled backwards on their raft, fearful, as another, lighter colored iceberg broke the surface. It was unclear whether it was the Katara broke up or not. As the new iceberg settled, Katara walked to edge of the iceberg she was standing on to get a better look. Squinting, she could make out a figure of a boy in a mediatation pose. Visible through even through the few feet of ice, there were white arrows on his fists and on his bald head. Suddenly, his eyes and his arrow markings glowed white.

"He's alive! We have to help." Katara grabbed Sokka's club. Then she jumped on small icebergs floating in the water like stepping stones, to the iceberg that contained the boy, a few meters away.

"Katara! Get back here! We don't know what that thing is!"  
Sokka arrived on the iceberg that held the boy as Katara took a few swings at the iceberg with his club.

The iceberg then cracked from top to bottom and exploded open. A huge shaft of white blue light shot straight into the heavens. The howling of a pack of tiger-seals could be heard shortly after. What in the world was going on?

An iron hulled battleship cut through the icy waters of the South Pole. On the foredeck stood Prince Zuko, leaning over the rim of the ship, as if doing so would will the ship to go faster.

* * *

"Finally. Uncle, do you realize what this means?" the Prince spoke in a pained, yet excited voice.  
A portly man dressed in the red and black Fire Nation garb answered in a warm, scratchy voice. "I won't get to finish my game?"

"It means my search- it's about to come to an end." Zuko spoke with a determined voice that almost masked his longing.  
The portly man groaned. His name was Iroh.

"That light came from an incredibly powerful source. It has to be him!"  
"Or it's just the celestial lights. We've been down this road before, Prince Zuko. I don't want you to get too excited over nothing. Please, sit. Why don't you enjoy a cup of calming jasmine tea?" Uncle Iroh spoke in that calming, singsong baritone of his.  
"I don't need any calming tea! I need to capture the Avatar. Helmsman, head a course for the light!" Prince Zuko was not in the mood for tea today.

The powerful white-blue light had dissipated, all except for the residual energy swirling over the lip of the inverted dome the beam had created by exploding the iceberg. The light dissipated even further, until a figure of a boy was silhouetted against the light.  
Sokka raised his spear. "Stop!" he issued threating.  
The energy sunk into the boy's midsection, and he slid down the iceberg, slumping right into Katara's ready arms, facedown. Sokka curiously gave the boy's head a few pokes with the butt of his spear.

"Stop it!" Katara exclaimed. She gently turned the boy over, and he opened his eyes slowly. They were startling grey, carefree clouds in the sky. His head was bald, and now Katara could see that the arrow on his bald head was a faded sky blue.

The boy took in a sharp breath as he gazed at the magnificent sight above him. The most beautiful girl he had ever seen was staring down at him. He took a few seconds to digest her glowing copper skin, her hair loopies floating in the wind, and here cerulean eyes glinting against the snow. Wait, snow?  
"I need to ask you something." the boy's words seemed to hurt as he uttered them.  
"What?" Katara asked softly.  
"Please... come closer." He was really enjoying how close her face was to his.  
"What is it?"  
"Will you go penguin sledding with me?" his words did not sound pained anymore. Now the boy sounded upbeat, excited.

"Uh... sure. I guess." Katara said confusedly.

The boy twirled his hands and an air current pushed him out of Katara's arms.  
"Ahh!" Sokka yelped.  
"What's going on here?" the boy rubbed the back of his neck while taking in his surroundings.  
"You tell us! How'd you get in the ice?" Sokka prodded him with the butt of his spear. "And why aren't you frozen?"  
"I'm not sure." the boy absently batted away Sokka's spear.

From over the lip of the iceberg, a low ox-like roar could be heard.  
The boy gasped, almost forgetting about his furry friend. He scrambled up and over the lip of the iceberg, and landed on the head of his sky-bison. It was as huge as two bison, and had brown arrows on its arms and head, not unlike his companion's sky blue ones.  
"Appa! Are you all right? Wake up, buddy." the boy gently pushed open one of Appa's eyes. It started sleepily back at him.

" Haha! You're okay!"  
The boy sprawled himself over the bison's forehead in a kind of hug.  
"What is that thing?" Sokka said. He and Katara had entered the crater through a way in on its side.  
"This is Appa, my flying bison." said the boy, beaming with pride.  
"Right. And this is Katara, my flying sister."  
The boy ducked right before Appa let out a tremendous sneeze. Sokka was now covered in bison boogers.

"Ewww! Aahh!" Sokka rolled around in the snow, wiping his head and on the ground frantically.

"Don't worry. It'll wash out." The boy said happily.

"Ugh!" Sokka touched his mitten to his face, and a string of snot followed his hand. It snapped when the water tribe warrior quickly waved his hand away from his head.

"So, do you guys live around here?" _How did I get here?_ The boy wondered.

"Don't answer that! Did you see that crazy bolt of light? He was probably trying to signal the Fire Navy." Sokka interjected.

"Oh, yeah, I'm sure he's a spy for the Fire Navy. You can tell by that evil look in his eye." Katara said in a mock skeptical voice.

"The paranoid one is my brother, Sokka. You never told us your name."

"I'm A... aaaahhhh... ahhhhhh... aaah aaah aaah AAAAAAACHOOOO!"The boy sneezed with such force that he shot up into the air. He floated back down like a leaf.

"I'm Aang."

* * *

So what did you think? I'll try to complete The Boy In The Iceberg by September 30th. Each chapter will be an episode from the show, or something in-between.


	2. Update Soon!

I have NOT quit on the story. But updates will probably be slow. If I could get a co-author, things might go faster. Any takers? Again, I have NOT quit. I WILL finish this eventually.


End file.
